0487 A wonderful early morning surprise (Ita 012—new)

Roviano Travel Blog

The hills around Tivoli are way too steep to try to do any camping, so I hop on a night train to the next stop.The train drops me off in the middle of nowhere where I soon find a good spot to camp.The only problem is that it’s a lot colder up at this altitude and I’m not really equipped for the cold…

Unable to sleep I get up before dawn and get on the next train.

And then I make yet another discovery that makes me completely forget my rather miserable night.

The sun rises to show me a splendid castle and ancient village perched on a mountaintop high above the valley below.

Welcome to Roviano.

Welcome to the mountain region of Central Italy.Here the streets are clean. Here everybody greets you with a cheery “bon giourno!”Here people live in cozy little stone houses clustered together on hilltops just as the have for the last 1,000 years…

I don’t care home cold it gets at night… I’ve definitely got to explore this region…

I wind my way up the alleys to the castle at the top. Nearby is a plaque that explains a bit the history of the place. This castle was built by the Roviano family to defend against against other rival families in the region--and to defend against the papist army which people in these mountains resisted for centuries…

I’m starting to understand a bit what makes Italy different from say, England, France, or Spain… When these other countries had already been united under single flags, Italy was still a fragmented land family run mini-countries often at war with each other.That’s why you see castles everywhere instead of luxurious chateaus…

I wander all around the village looking for the best place to take my video clip.

There’s another village way on the other side of the valley that beckons me… but I figure I’d better keep on going… But not without first playing a few songs in a little park where I was joined by a couple of garbage collectors who figured it was a good time to take a break…